Woken up at 3am on my due date with strong, regular contractions coming every ten minutes, lasting anywhere from 45 secs to 90 secs. Tried to get back to sleep, but no joy, and between them and running to the loo to empty myself , DH was awoken at 5am. We timed them using an app, before I got up at 8ish with DS and went plot chat with my mum to let her know what was happening. Let DH sleep on a little as I knew he'd need the reserves later.

We went to feed the ducks, and a bit of a walk, contractions sometimes tailing off slightly, but never going. When we got back, I retreated to our bedroom as my DGM was also down, and she kept asking if I was ok - very sweet but I felt like a watched pot.

Had a half hour nap at about 3pm, followed by a sandwich, and things started to progress around 9pm, when I was getting the pains for a minute every 4 minutes. We called the hospital at 10, and got told to come in as I was vbac, and live 30 mins away.

Got up there, and internal showed I was only 1 1/2cm I could have wept. 21 hours of bad contractions for what felt like nothing. They hooked me up to a trace, which showed baby haif an absolute party - very active and heartrate not coming down. The midwife thought she was back to back but am very sure she was mistaken as we could all hear her moving on the trace, but I felt nothing.

After an hour was sent to walk around and bounce on aBall to try and progress, then had another trace. Same thing happened again, heartrate mental, another hour hooked up, but she eventually calmed. A further examination showed I had dilated to 2 - 2 1/2cm. The only pain relief they could offer was paracetamol and codeine, which didn't touch the sides.

They then said I could stay on ward (without DM and DH) or go home, but I was in the latent phase which could last for 2 weeks! I started sobbing - I had been in labour for over 24 hours, with no let up, and then thought they would let me continue contracting until my induction 5 days later (midwife had not cancelled it in case it was needed after I had text her to let her know it had kicked off) was soul destroying.

We went home at 5am, and DH and I managed about an hours sleep. When I woke up, the contractions were even worse, I was now lowing through each one, and they were a minute every 3. I ended up calling my one to one midwife at 7.30, leaving a tearful message tellif her what had happened, and explaining I really didn't feel I could cope with how it was going if these contractions were doing nothing. She called back and explained she was at a birth, but would be with us soon.

She arrived at 10, finding me mooing on the bed, contracting hard, and at 5cm! Got told to get to hospital NOW or we might not get there at all. She phoned ahead, and when we arrived, we were whisked through to the mw led unit for my waterbirth. I was so close I could FEEL the water ... Except the pool needed cleaned.

They got on to that, but took me to another room in the meantime. It ended up being the same room I laboured in with DS. I got my gas and air, and they suggested leaning over the bed on my knees, which is how I stayed. It was now just after 11, and I'd went from 5 - 8 in 30 mins.

By 12.30 I was fully dilated and involuntarily pushing. They came to offer me the pool at 12.50, but I couldn't have moved if they'd paid me. They offered more pain relied, which was then forgotten about as they could see her! The only thing holding her in was her waters, and thank god, the mw gave them a little nip and they went.

Pushing, I don't think, took very long at all. She couldn't get round the bend whilst I was on my knees, so by a force of sheer will, I turned on to my back as they had said, and pulled on my knees, following their directed pushing. The second midwife had come in not long before that point - and was the one who was there when I had DS! Lovely!

The pushing went very well, I felt her head, and I don't think it took all that long, although the whole thing seemed like it took hours. Cameron arrived at 1.29pm, delivered on to my tummy with only gas and air. I had a few grazes but that was it - directed pushing definitely worked for me!

Once it got going for me, it happened really quickly. It was a fast, intense birth at the end and I'm not that bothered about missing the pool - I'm so incredibly proud of myself that I did it all on gas and air and didn't tear

Our princess is perfect, feeding like a champ, and my boobs are rocks today - which never happened with DS!

She has a slight heart murmur, which we've to see if has resolved in 2 weeks, and she needs an ultrasound on her hips as she wa breech into the third trimester, but she is perfect and we're all, DS included, besotted.

We are home from hospital and I am feeling much better for it. Although now we are dealing with the panic of being left on our own in charge of a tiny baby. We took her out of the house for the first time today.

I feel I am struggling a bit with breastfeeding although dd is putting on Weight which is reassuring. She doesn't always wake up often enough for a feed and falls asleep halfway through. I think this is related to her being premature.

Also trying to sort through all of the baby clothes, order nursery furniture, and all of the other things I had planned to do on maternity leave.

Bugsy I'm having the same trouble with feeding my DD too, she often nods off in the middle. Usually winding then putting her back on does the trick, or tickling her neck and feet.

Annoyingly, last night I think my right boob had too much pressure behind it, she kept latching on then pulling off and I found I could squirt a fair distance by pressing down. This got us both in a it of a pickle, but expressing seems to have sorted it out now.

Hope the feeding gets easier prickly and bugsy - we re not quite there yet, with DD still hapilly festing on colostrum.

A bit fed up tonight *nd teary too. I was looking forward to get discharged tomorrow and back home to send an anouncement about the birth of the little one. Had in mind to pick a nice pic with DD1 and make an occasion of it for her to take part. Turns out my PIL took it upon themselves to tell everyone inc. Birth details etc I am sooo disappointed.

This child has been feeding pretty much constantly since 10pm. Yes, breastfeeding is definitely a challenge! She is such a boob fiend. Due to issues with DS feeding I am constantly worrying she's getting enough. Won't relax until midwife visit on Friday for weigh in. Have asked DH to be here as I'm so paranoid about it.

Milk in with a vengeance, which is a new, novel and painful experience! Am dripping everywhere. Still worrying, especially as only had one dirty nappy today (ignoring the frankly ridiculous number we had over the previous days). Looking forward to a yellow breastfed baby poo!

Good birth story bunty, sounds like it went really well. Mine was similar except stalled right at the end. Then plan went out the window! I will write mine soon too.

My DD has lost quite a bit of weight so even though i thought feeding was going well I guess I'm not giving her enough. Although its still very early days. She also falls asleep mid feed every time. I try waking her which works sometimes but other times she just stays asleep. At least she is sleeping in my bed now though rather than only on one of us as was the case the first few nights.

We're currently in the hospital again. DD has probable tongue tie, my nips are shredded, she has lost weight, is a bit jaundiced, and I'm exceptionally engorged with a blocked duct.

Fairly sure her jaundice result will come back ok as she is not very yellowy at all, and have been given nipple shields which are helping. She is now feeding excellently and the engorgement has wnt completely on one side, the other side will hopefully follow, as will the blocked duct, but I just want to go home. Have been here 3 an a half hours, missed DS bedtime, and have only eaten 2 croissants and most recently someToast they brought me as I pointed out I've not eaten.

DH is furious that they won't let us go. I'm at tired resignation. I just want something to go well.

DD lost just over 10% at 5 days old but after being weighed 2 days later is now putting it on. That kind of weight loss is common though even without the shredded nips so you're doing well just keeping going and the weight will go on eventually. I had awful pain with feeding DD1 so I know how you feel but I hope it's going better for you now...

OK I have finally written my birth story. Here it is. Apologies it is a bit long!

I left work on Thursday 20th December, my penultimate day at work before maternity leave, feeling slightly out of sorts. I was 34 weeks and 6 days pregnant and had been feeling tired and grouchy all day, so I phoned my sister and asked her if she would mind picking me up on her way home from work and driving me home. When I got into her car, for no apparent reason, I burst into tears. She dropped me off at home and I decided to have a hot bath and eat some leftover curry for dinner (big mistake?). A bit later, DP phoned to ask if I would come and pick him up as he had been out for drinks but by then I was in bed so I asked him to get a taxi instead. At around 11pm, I was lying in bed and felt a funny popping sensation, then felt some liquid trickle out as if I had weed myself. I got up to go to the toilet and then water started to gush out of me. As I was stood there thinking 'what the fuck...?' DP came in through the front door.

DP doesn't drive, so I called my DSis who lives round the corner, and she came over and took us into the hospital and we went to triage. At triage I was told I was 1cm dilated and that I had two options; either try to delay the labour, or to induce the labour. They advised that at 35 weeks the risks of infection from losing my waters were about equal to the risks associated with the baby being premature, so they were undecided which would be best. I therefore suggested we do nothing for 48 hours to see what happened, and the consultants agreed. I was given steroid injections (which really hurt!) and sent to the ward for the night.

After an hour or so on the ward I started to feel mild contractions, so I was sent to a separate room to be monitored. The contractions continued overnight and were just enough to stop me from sleeping, but they didn't get stronger or more regular so I was sent back to the ward in the morning. The ward was bright and busy and my contractions completely stopped, but I was also unable to sleep. In the evening the ward went quiet and the lights were turned off, and it seemed like as soon as I relaxed the contractions started again, a bit more intense this time, I was examined and I was told I was 2-3cm dilated. I was then told that the hospital's special care baby unit was full, and as it was likely that the baby would need special care due to being early, I was taken in an ambulance to a hospital in another town. The ambulance ride was unpleasant as I found it hard to cope with my contractions when I was strapped into a seat and unable to move.

The next day I continued to have contractions which got stronger through the day. I had now had two nights without sleep and I was starting to feel quite exhausted. I was given codeine and the midwife suggested I try the tens machine, which seemed to help - possibly by providing a distraction, and fiddling with the settings gave DP something useful to do. DSis massaged my lower back when I had a contraction, which also seemed to help. I tried lots of different positions and the best one by far was with the bed back raised, and me leaning over/hugging it. However, I would describe the contractions as intense, rather than painful. I think I was hallucinating slightly as I told everyone my contractions were different colours (presumably this was a result of the combination of codeine and lack of sleep!). However, a little later, I started to feel overwhelmed by the contractions and asked for some stronger pain relief. My contractions still weren't regular, so the midwife suggested I be taken to a delivery room and given a drip to increase my contractions, and gas and air.

A few weeks ago a friend had given me a copy of her natal hypnotherapy cds, but I had only listened to them a handful of times so I didn't think they would do much. While the midwife was fetching the gas and air I asked DP to put the music track on, which is supposed to take you back into hypnosis during labour. It worked amazingly well and I became completely calm, and when the midwife came back with the gas and air I didn't want it anymore. She then examined me again and I was 8cm dilated, but she couldn't believe it as I was so calm so she called a doctor to come and double check. So I escaped being put on the drip and instead was left to labour on my own. I was still really hungry and by this point I had eaten all of my snacks so the midwife fed me bananas dipped in honey, and a box of celebrations.

After a while, I was examined again and I was fully dilated, but wasn't feeling an urge to push, so the midwife suggested that I do some controlled pushing. I lay on my back with my legs in the air and pushed. And pushed. And pushed. And nothing happened. Eventually, the doctor was called back, and they agreed that the baby seemed to be stuck, but they couldn't see why. I was therefore asked to sign to give consent for either forceps or ceasarean, and was taken to theatre and given a spinal block. They worked out that the baby was stuck as she was trying to come out sideways and so they used forceps to rotate her and pull her out. As she came out she cried straight away and suddenly a baby was thrown onto my chest. It was amazing but a bit surreal. She was then taken off to be weighed while I was stitched up and also I had to have the placenta manually extracted. Then I was taken into a side room and the baby was taken to SCBU to be monitored as her breathing was irregular.

The next thing I knew I woke on the postnatal ward. My memory was very hazy and I couldn't work out where the baby was. Eventually someone came and reminded me of what had happened and took me to see the baby in SCBU. She ended up staying there for a week, while she had blood tests for various infections (all negative), and was treated for jaundice. Initially she was tube fed but I began breastfeeding and slowly decreased her top-ups until she was having my milk only. Meanwhile I had a fun Christmas on the postnatal ward. The care was pretty poor, and I was threatened with being discharged without the baby. I think I was quite depressed. DSis drove DP to the hospital most days which was lucky as the buses were terrible and there were none at all on bank holidays. For the last couple of nights I 'roomed in' at SCBU with the baby in my room, which was great, but I still felt very isolated so far from home, and struggled doing all of the night feeding and changing on my own. The whole time we kept asking to be transferred back to my local hospital, but kept being told the baby unit was still full. Finally, the baby started to put on weight and we were discharged on Sunday, one week after I gave birth.

marasme how annoying of your PIL! My mum also 'outed' me on facebook by changing her status to 'is a grandma'. I think this is down to a combination of her being overexcited and not really getting facebook etiquette. Luckily my sister spotted it and I went on to make my own announcement straight away.

Sorry to hear that others are having a hard time with feeding but it's reassuring to know that I am not the only one who struggles to get their baby to feed. I always had the impression that babies were constantly crying for food.

Today the midwife came and weighed DD and said her weight was the same as last time, which is not great but not terrible either. She said that she will come back on Monday and if she hasn't put on weight then she would recommend topping up with formula. I am trying to think positive - she now started feeding loads, and at the previous visit she was weighed right after a feed and today she was weighed before a feed and after a big poo, which might explain the failure to gain any weight .

We got discharged at 10:30 that night, birdies. DD has been feeding all day today and has settled about an hour ago. The blockage seems to be resolving thanks to rugby ball hold, which my DS wouldn't countenance, and heat packs. I pretty much took to bed today and we skin to skinned and fed.

She has lost 8% at day 6 - midwife not worried ATM, ESP in view of tongue tie. No poos yet today, although big wet nappies. I so just want some yellow poos from her!

It sounds like everything is looking much more positive now Bunty now your little one is feeding well she'll put on weight, 8% is fine anyway. Is the rugby ball hold where you have her head in one hand and bum in the other, Or is it where she's tucked down by your side? As you can tell I don't follow rugby

Bugsy Crikey that was an epic tale. Being in hospital for a week and over Christmas sounds pretty grim. How are you feeling now?

We had a better night last night, I think we got around 6 hours sleep, which is double what we managed the night before. My problem now is still boob related, now one of them just doesn't seem to be producing enough as she never gets filled up on my right one even if I leave her on for an hour, she just sucks away. Whereas she's usually done in 15 mins on the left. I think I'm destined to be lop-sided forever more!

Agree that breastfeeding is a challenge. Because Leah was small (5lbs 4oz) I worry about her getting enough milk, especially as she is quite drowsy and struggles and fails to latch on at times. I have started to express some milk with a breast pump and feed her it through a syringe (which I saw the midwife do at hospital with formula - they did this a few times as her blood sugar levels were low). The community midwife has advised me to keep doing this, as well as offering the breast frequently.

mama how many weeks were you? Dd was 5lb 5oz, and sounds very similar, I am also having to wake her for feeds. I posted a thread about bfing premature babies in the breastfeeding topic and got some good advice - sorry I can't link to it from my phone.

I'm feeling much better now that we are home thanks prickly. I hated being stuck on a hospital ward without dp and the care there wasn't great.

I read your birth story a while ago bugsy but forgot to comment. Sounds like such a pain being in for a week but really glad everything worked out in the end. I WILL get round to doing mine soon as well!

Hope everyone's doing ok. I'm up and about much more now after my section. Wish I could pick up DD1 as I think she's feeling a bit neglected but hopefully will be able to soon. Did anyone else on here have a section?

Birdies I narrowly missed out on a section, I was given a spinal block and had to sign a consent form for either forceps or a section, as they couldn't tell exactly why/where dd was stuck. In the end they got her out with forceps.

I think I have discovered the holy grail of nursing bras - after two weeks in the only nursing bra m&s did in my size a hideous non-wired floral number which DP bought while I was still in hospital, I have just received an anita underwired nursing bra from ebay and it is a revelation - it feels like a normal bra only with drop cups. The only problem is it is much more generous in the band than the m&s one, so I am wearing it on the tightest setting, and if I lose any weight it will be too big.